The Akrotiri miniature Marine Festival Fresco

In one of the rooms in Akrotiri there was a narrow (40 cm, or 12.5 inch) fresco
along the top of the walls. The frescos on the four walls displayed different
scenes that might or might not have been thematically related. On one wall was
the so-called Marine Festival Fresco, which shows a fleet of ships leaving one
city and arriving at another. This fresco has had many intepretations, including
that it represents a military invasion (on another wall there is a scene of
what looks like a naval battle). Some say that the departure city is Akrotiri,
or that the destination is Akrotiri. But neither look in the least like Akrotiri
would have done then, and I think we can dismiss both possibilities out of hand, though I believe one of the ships is departing from Akrotiri,which is hidden behind the eastern tip of Santorini/Thera.

My current interpretation of the fresco is that it is an accurate representation
of a festive trip from Atlantis to Knossos, perhaps
for an annual or quadrennial festival akin to the thousand-year later Olympic
games. In an extremely speculative mood, I suggest that the Games involved the
bull-leaping
and related events recorded in Knossos frescos, and furthermore that they underly
the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur.

Here is the picture. You will have to scroll across to see it all, or you can
click on it to see a really big version you can scroll across in a separate
window. I built this as a composite from pictures of parts of the fresco found
on several Web sites. Or, if you want to see some discussion of it in the guise
of an interactive interface for mission planning,
click here.

A small version of the Marine festival Fresco.
Scroll across to see the right-hand part of it.

If you want to look at a very big version (1.2 Mb, over 5000 pixels
wide) on a separate page, to view and scroll across in conjunction with
the text discussion, click on it, or
click here

(The big version is recommended only
if you have a big screen and a fast connection. Note: MS Internet Explorer 5 seems
to limit the width of an image to less than half of the big version, at
least on the Macintosh).

My interpretation of this picture is that it is a festive fleet travelling
from Atlantis to Knossos for a special occasion, for example an annual (or quadrennial)
games festival such as I speculate underlies the legend of Theseus
and the Minotaur..There are so many points of correspondence between the
destination part of the fresco and the north Crete coast that I think the Knossos
destination is pretty well assured.

Departure from Thera cannot be verified directly from the picture, since the
central part of Thera at the time of the painting no longer exists, having been
blown to bits in 1650 BC. However, the picture does correspond in many ways
to what Plato wrote about Atlantis, and the fresco was found in Akrotiri on
Thera/Santorini, so a departure from that island would seem most probable, even
if we did not know from other data of the close connection between Akrotiri
and Knossos. .I interpret the departure city under the assumption that Plato's
story of Atlantis is essentially true (See
some of the reasoning here), and that it refers to Thera/Santorini before
the catastrophic explosion. Certainly this picture was created before Akrotiri
was evacuated, which happened some years before the final eruption in 1650 BC.

The departure city: Atlantis?

Starting from the left of the picture, we see a town open to the sea on one
side, from which the fleet is departing. The town has a ring of water separating
it from another narrow strip of land and another strip of water separates that
from a wider terrain in which lions can chase deer. On the intermediate strip
of land, to the left of the main town, is a cluster of houses that seem to be
a suburb of the town. The city is shown as being built of red, white, and grey
brick with yellow adornment also prominent, particularly on the wall to the
right of the city. I intrerpret this city as being Atlantis, the town posited
to have been on the central island of Thera that vanished in the explosion and
is now distributed in the form of ash all over the Eastern Mediterranean. The
view would be from the West, because even now, that is the only direction from
which the central caldera and volcano is visible from the sea. The ships
are heading South.

The city from which the fleet is departing (Atlantis?).

Plato said of Atlantis that it was built of red, white, and black stone, and
the city walls were decorated with brass, tin, and "orichalcum." The
wall at the middle right could well be a brass-decorated wall. Plato did not
know what orichalcum was, other than that it was the most precious substance
after gold. Orichalc did in fact exist, and was used for expensive decoration
in Byblos of the same era (1700-1900 BC), but this was not known until the Gublitic
script of Byblos was deciphered in the mid-20th century. Orichalcum might
have been a gold alloy, which would have been yellow, though Plato refers to
its "red glow".

In other words, the red, white, dark grey and yellow colours of the city in
the fresco are appropriate for it to be Atlantis. Some commentators have suggested
the city might be Akrotiri, but Akrotiri would never have been ringed by water, as
Plato said Atlantis was. If this city is Atlantis, the view is from the west,
since we know that to be the only direction in which there could have been open
sea. From this viewpoint, Akrotiri would have been hidden by the headland to
the right (south) of the city in the fresco. The two humps separated by a saddle are correct for the non-volcanic hills now called Profiti Ilias and Meso Vouno. The suburb to the left would have
been another town that is probably now part of the ashfall somewhere in the
eastern Mediterranean (though it could be somewhere under the ash north of present-day
Fira).

The ships

One of the 42-oared ships, with two "sunflowers". On this
one, the man by the box in front of the steersman is standing up, looking
forward, whereas in the other ships, he is sitting facing the captain in
the box at the stern..

There are six large ships, three having 42 oars, two with 36 oars, and one
with 46 oars, as well as a couple of smaller ships, one of then a sailing ship.
They have long bowsprits, to which are attached what look like sunflower emblems.
The 36-oared ships have one "sunflower", two of the 42-oared ships
and the 46-oared ship have two, and one 42-oared ship has four. The "sunflowers"
seem like insignia of rank and I take this ship to be the flagship of the fleet. Another indication of the importance of this ship is the fact that the passengers are wearing coloured clothes, whereas in the other ships only one has a passenger with coloured clothes, and that person sits alone in the bow of the ship shown just below the "flagship". The four-flower ship also has decorations (lanterns?) strung from ropes hung between
the central mast and the bow and stern of the ship. Similar decorations hang
from the posts of the passenger cabin (those ones have also been interpreted
as military helmets hung on the posts for convenience. But if those are helmets,
what are the identical objects that hang on the ropes slung from the mast?)

The ships seem to have been carefully and accurately drawn in many respects.
For example, consider the protrusion at the waterline at the stern. The smaller
boats do not have this construct. The larger ships do, and in each case the
lower bar of this protrusion is extended forward to connect with the steering
oar. It is not a central extension to the keel, as some would have it. It is
part of the steering mechanism. The small sailing ship does not have this mechanism,
and it needs two steering oars. Just how the mechanism works is obscure, but
one possibility is that the curved sheet that connects the bar to the hull is
a flexible textile sheet that supplements the steering oar. This seems unlikely,
but no obvious alternative presents itself.

A further clue to the accuracty of the drawing is in what we might call the
"VIP Cabin" at the rear end of the awning-covered passenger area on
the big ships. All of them have this special area, but the smaller ships do
not.

The "flagship" of the fleet, with its festive decorations.
Although it has only 42 oars, like two ot the others, this ship has four
"sunflowers", which may be an insignia of rank. The passengers seem to be VIPs, as they are wearing coloured clothing, whereas the passengers on the other ships are dressed in white.

The "flagship" has its hull decorated with lions and dolphins, whereas
the other has abstract scrolls (representing waves?). The passengers on the
flagship wear brightly coloured clothes, whereas most of the passengers on
the other ships wear white.

A small square-rigged sailing ship that has two steering paddles but no oars
(though it seems to have positions for 14 oars, .has its hull decorated with
birds in flight, suggesting speed.

The small sailing ship from the fresco.
Compare it with the Phoenecian ship of about a century later. It even has
the wicker fence that protected the cargo (and the passengers) from the
sea spray. The rigging looks very similar, though this ship lacks the fore
and aft stays shown on the Phoenecian ship, and the ship has a long bowsprit
in place of the upright bow and sternposts of the Phoenecian ship.

A Phoenecian merchant ship of about 1500 BC. (From
http://www.cal-pe.com/repro&.htm). This ship does not have the captain's
cabin that is shown on all the larger ships in the Akrotiri fresco. The
picture shows only one steering oar, though the accompnaying text says it
had two, like the Akrotiri ship.

Some commentators have said that the departure and arrival city would have
to be both on Thera/Santorini, because such ships would not be sea-going. But
the ships look very like the Viking longboats that braved the Atlantic two and a
half thousand years later, and there seems no reason why these Akrotiri ships
should not have been quite seaworthy. Later, smaller Greek ships of 30 oars
were used for long-distance trading, so there seems no reason not to credit
these shiups with at least equal capability. Ships like the larger rowing craft
have been shown to be capable of making a trip equivalent to the Thera-Knossos
trip in one day's rowing. Furthermore, these ships seem to have outboard rowlocks,
giving the rowers a greater mechanical advantage, which is good for sustained
long-distance rowing, as opposed to fast short spurts.

The ship paintings argue that the painter was very precise in his depiction.
The accuracy of the ship pictures argues for similar accuracy elsewhere, though
obviously in the case of the pictures of towns the accuracy is cognitive rather
than photographic, the towns being much bigger than the few buildings shown
clearly. The translucency of some buildings is taken to be an indication that
they are shown only to provide context for the more important material, but what is shown is probably fairly accurate.

The destination city, Knossos?

The destination is a complex coast, with at least two separate harbours and
associated towns, backed by mountains, and with an occupied structure on top
of one of the hills in front of the distant mountain. different interpreters
have suggested many possible locations. To me it all looks very like Crete,
but more detail is required to say that Crete is more probable than any other
coast. And more detail is available.

The first construction the fleet approaches.on the
destination land

Malia as it is now (May 2000)

This picture is of the first construction the fleet approaches on the destination
land. This 5-story red stone construction is on or near the shore, as the boats
drawn up on the beach indicate. The palace of Malia was constructed largely
of red stone, and despite its "apartment-building" look, I identify
this structure with the Malia palace. Modern
reconstruction gives the palace only two or three stories with a variety
of taller tower blocks, but that reconstruction is highly speculative. The technology
of the time would have allowed taller buildings. Malia is on the north coast
of Crete, with the Lassithi mountains behind it. The configuration of the mountains,
as seen in the photograph I took in May 2000, is strikingly close to the configuration
in the fresco. The lower, nearer hill in the photograph is now called Profitis
Ilias.

The painter showed the Malia palace as somewhat transparent, which I take as
an indication that it was intended more as a contextual element to help the
viewer locate the picture than as an item of interest in itself. What was of
specific interest was the group of people near the top of this section of the
fresco, running up to a building on the nearer hilltop, from which a figure
looks out onto the approaching fleet. We can assume that the approach of the
fleet caused some excitement, and that these figures were people, perhaps young
boys, who wanted to get a good view. Whether military or festive, the appearance
of such a fleet cannot have been a frequent occurrence. Perhaps it was like
today's parade of tall ships that happens once every few years, for which crowds
line the shore.

I identify the building on the hill as what is known as the "Peak Sanctuary"
on Profitis Ilias. This Peak Sanctuary was much the lowest Minoan Peak Sanctuary
yet identified on Crete, according to Castleden (Minoans: Life in Bronze Age
Crete, London: Routledge, 1990).

I know nothing of the construction of the Profitis Ilias Peak Sanctuary, but
I assume it was like the ones at Iuktas or Amenospilia (the latter is shown
here). The Amenospilia Peak Sanctuary picture could have served as a template
for the construction on the hilltop in the fresco, with a main door opening
into a rectangular room, with another room to its right, and possibly a third
behind it. If it is indeed the Profitis Ilias peak sanctuary, it would have
been a good place to go to see the fleet as it passed Malia on the way to Amnissos
(not the most direct route, but a route that a festival convoy might well have
taken).

Another possible reason to identify the red building as the Malia Palace is
the small harbour just in front of it. Malia had just such a small harbour,
and the palace was quite near the shore.

Between the semi-transparent 5-story red building by the shore and the final
destination city, the fresco shows protruding segment of coastline, which is
easily identified with the shallow cliff-bound point around which the present-day
coast road goes between Malia and Amnissos, some 30 km to the west. Since it
is obvious at first glance that the fresco has no consistency of scale, the
abstraction of the jagged coastline separating the two places into a single
promontory is not a problem for the identification. The separation between the
two harbours--the small one at Malia, and the large Amnissos port that served
Knossos-- is the significant detail.

The next element of the fresco is the final destination, which
I interpret to be Amnissos, the port for Knossos. Amnissos was a major port,
known to the Byblos traders, whereas (so far as I am aware) Malia was not treated
like an international trading port. If the fresco does represent the two ports
of Malia and Amnissos, the difference is shown by the nature of the boats in
them. The "Malia" boats are small, whereas the "Amnissos"
boats are substantial ships, possibly sailing ships (at least the upper one
looks like a sailing ship, and both seem to have the wicker fences of the sailing
ship in the fleet and of the Phoenecian ship shown above).

The final destination of the fleet, with a welcoming crowd waiting
on the wharf and watchers at every tower and window. Is this Amnissos and
Knossos? To see the full panorama of the fresco in large size,
click here.

What other features might link this rightmost part of the fresco to Amnissos
and Knossos? Knossos is about 5 km inland, and would not have been as visible
from the sea as is the town in the fresco. Does this matter? Perhaps not. The
fresco painter did not paint from a single-viewpoint, even though in some respects
the picture does seem to be fairly precise. Many different cultures (and young
children sometimes) have painted what the mind sees, rather than what the eye
sees. All four sides of a house may be shown in a single picture, for example.
The fresco painter could well have shown the palace/temple of Knossos because
that was where the people of the ships intended to go after landing at Amnissos.
It would have been a cognitively present element of the picture, even if a camera
could not have seen it from a sea-borne viewpoint. There is certainly a shift
of perspective between the left side of this clip, where the two boats are,
and the right side with the people waiting on the wharf. And one would not expect
a viewing window to exist under the foot of the wide grey steps in the middle
of the picture.

The "Theatral Area" steps at Knossos, at the head of the
access road. The main buildings are to the right.

The wide grey steps that lead nowhere are a possible clue to the identification
of Knossos here. Such a set of steps is a common feature of Minoan palaces,
and occur even in the much later Dorian
site at Lato. They have been called "Theatral Areas", but they
each are at the head of an entrance road, as if they afforded a place for dignitaries
to welcome official visitors. The steps would have been the real destination
of the passengers from the fleet, if they were attending festivities in Knossos.
As such, the steps would have been cognitively important for the artist. In
Knossos, the steps are at the head of the road, to the left of the palace as
one approaches along the road, as are the steps in this picture. It may be purely
coincidence, but there are 11 steps in the picture, and 11 steps remain at Knossos.

In the fresco, a road seem to be shown between two segments of blue-grey sea-wall.
The road seems to be depicted as a route, rather than just as a gap in the wall,
suggesting that it is intended that other features should be seen as being in
the further distance, down the road. The steps seem naturally to be among those
more distant features.

Knossos is a natural destination for ships from Thera. Even if there were no
other indications (such as the grey and yellow stone of which Knossos is actually
built) it would be natural to assume that Knossos was a likely destination of
the fleet. With the addition of the correctly placed and coloured edifice that
could be Malia with the Profiti Ilias Peak Sanctuary behind it, the mountain
range that backs the whole coastline, and the grey "Theatral Area"
steps, the identification seems fairly secure.

The probable route of the fleet, or rather of the ship from Akrotiri.
The main fleet would have come from the central city, which I identify with
Atlantis. (On the map, note the Island of Anafi just east of Thera.
It figures in the Legend of Jason and the Argonauts.)

If these identifications are correct, we can fairly accurately describe the
route of the fleet. On the left of the fresco, a ship from Akrotiri (which is
hidden behind the correctly shaped headland on the right of the island) is joining the main fleet
from the central city, which we identify with Atlantis.

In the days of the fresco painter, there were no GPS satallites or even reliable
clocks, so navigation had to be by the sun and by visible landmarks. So long
as the ships could see the central volcano of Thera, they could keep a fairly
accurate direction by aligning landmarks. By the time the volcano was out of
sight, if they were aiming for Amnissos, they could have seen Mt. Ida or Mt
Diktas, and steered to either one. Mt Ida is further west of Amnissos than Mt
Diktas is to its east. and if the above interpretation is right, the fleet steered
past Malia, which they would have done if they had used Mt. Diktas as an aiming
point. To pass by Malia woudl in any case have been a natural courtesy for such
a festive fleet. Hence, the route on the map is consistent both with the natural
route such a fleet would have been expected to take between Thera and Crete,
and with the elements depicted in the fresco.

What was the occasion for this fleet?

Although some, including Nanno Marinatos in a popular tourist guide
to Santorini, have tried to interpret the fleet as military, there seems to
be nothing defensive about the people in the destination city, and nothing military
about the ships. Some have interpreted the objects hanging from the posts of
the flagship as helmets. and what I see as an awning as being spears resting
on high supports, but to me neither interpretaion makes sense. The hanging objects
look pretty well identical to the objects hanging from the ropes strung from
the masthead, and I take them to be lanterns or something like that. The passengers on the "flagship"
are clothed in vari-coloured cloaks, not armour, and there is no sign of a weapon
anywhere, whereas weapons are much in evidence in a companion fresco on another
wall of the same building. It seems much more likely to have been a traditional
festive event, much like the annual Marriage of Venice with the Sea, which continues
to the present day with a parade of decorated boats.

Detail of the flagship, showing the "lanterns" (or helmets?),
and the coliured clothing of the passengers.

The configurations of both the departure city and the arrival shore are unusual,
but are compatible with the departure being from the central city of pre-explosion
Thera (i.e. Atlantis) and the arrival being at Amnissos,
the port of Knossos, after passing by Malia. Nothing about either the departure
or the destination city is at all reminiscent of Akrotiri.

If we accept my (totally speculative) interpretation
of the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, there were regular, perhaps annual,
games in Knossos, to which people came from all over the Aegean. Atlantis was
a much richer place than most of the Mycenean cities, including Athens, and
much closer to Knossos. It is not unreasonable, then, to suppose that Atlantis
would send several shiploads of competitors and spectators, and that the ships
would be festively decorated. For the people of mainland Crete, the annual arrival
of the Atlantean fleet would have been a spectacular occasion, worth coming
to the dockside and other vantage points to observe, much as people now come
out to watch the parade of tall ships.